When the Eagle Creek Fire started burning in September 2017, Kim Mosiman didn’t think there would be a need for a large response, but as flames rapidly spread, she sprang into action mobilizing a network of volunteers in the Columbia River Gorge to rescue animals, including some in Clark County.
“A few of us came across the river and took animals to a private property,” said Mosiman, who lives in the community of Springdale, Ore., near the mouth of the Gorge. “Tons of people reached out to help.”
The American Red Cross Cascade Region honored Mosiman during the 21st annual Heroes Breakfast. Clark Public Utilities employee Joshua Vincent also was recognized during the event, for helping a woman who could have died of a stroke if not for his intervention.
The breakfast featured Red Cross members, Vancouver business leaders and the city’s mayor. There was also an appearance by Harlem Globetrotters member Shane “Scooter” Christensen, who briefly spun a basketball on his nose. (He holds the Guinness World Record for the longest duration of the unique talent, 7.7 seconds).
Mosiman is the co-founder and executive director of Sound Equine Options, a nonprofit horse rescue organization, and a member of the animal response team for a regional multi-agency coordination group, or MACG, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Those connections proved invaluable when the last fall’s fire interrupted people’s lives.
Watching and waiting at Sound Equine, located at the top of a cliff on the eastern side of Sandy River near Troutdale, Mosiman was placed on standby for the fire before being told to stand down. Then, the wind shifted east, pushing the fire farther away from its point of origin near the town of Cascade Locks.
Mosiman was awake for several days making calls. She was in touch with a MACG member in Washougal, who kept an eye on things from across the Columbia River.
By the time she’d loaded up the equine’s horses the first night of the fire, five people had called or messaged asking for assistance. During a short drive that night, the temperature on her truck thermometer jumped from 55 to 95 degrees as ash blanketed the Gorge’s landscape.
Mosiman said around 150 people stepped up and rescued more than 500 animals, including livestock, horses and emus. Video of the rescues played during Friday’s breakfast showed volunteers wrangling a muddy pig for transport.
Red Cross credits Mosiman with bringing relief and comfort to thousands of animal owners. Always critical, Mosiman said there were some glitches in the response, and the fire served as an example of how things could be improved in another event.
“But everyone was amazing. (MACG) is an amazing group of people, and it was nice to meet and interact with all of them. Because of them, the people who had to evacuate didn’t have to worry about their animals.”
Life-saving phone call
Joshua Vincent, the Clark Public Utilities employee, answered a customer’s phone call last March that ended up saving her life. Laurel Faught, 66, didn’t realize she was experiencing a medical emergency, and Vincent kept her on the phone, asking her questions until she agreed to have medics come to her home.
Although Faught didn’t realize it, her blood pressure had skyrocketed and she was close to having a massive stroke. Doctors later told the mother of six and grandmother of 20 that she would have died had Vincent not intervened when he did. The Columbian wrote about the rescue back in December.
Following the awards ceremony, Vincent said he was humbled by the praise but thought it was unnecessary.
“I just did what I hope anyone would do in that situation,” he said.
Other award recipients included a Beaverton, Ore., woman who has dedicated her military career to helping veterans; a Kelso man who organized a blood drive after 29 units of blood saved his life following a work-related injury; and a Colton, Ore., teenager who saved his father’s life by performing CPR, among others.
